Hot summer temperatures have arrived, and for our kids that means it’s lemonade stand season. These
young entrepreneurs have been selling lemonade to thirsty customers for the past few years- making a
small profit and learning valuable interpersonal, business, and food service skills along the way. In past
years, they have raised money for charity at their stand, but this year they have skipped the donation
box and decided to donate half of their profits to a charity of their choice. It appears that even the
smallest of businesses are using cause-based marketing in the hopes of increased earnings!
We have probably all participated in a company’s cause-based campaign at some point. And chances are
that you have noticed the recent growing trend of cause-based marketing in stores and online.
According to the ecommerce platform Givz, cause-related marketing is “essentially a marketing tactic
that aims to increase profits and make a better society.” The idea sounds promising, and with 89% of
executives believing that companies leading with “purpose” have a competitive advantage in today’s
marketplace (Social Impact Statistics You Should Know (engageforgood.com), cause-related marketing
appears to be everywhere. Personally, I like the idea of using my purchases to support the causes I care
about. I suppose I would be part of the 79% of Americans who say they, “feel a deeper personal
connection to companies with values similar to their own.” (2019 Porter Novelli/Cone Purpose
Biometrics Study – Cone (conecomm.com))
One such cause, sustainability, was discussed in a previous blog post. But cause-marketing can include
any wide variety of social issues. Just about everyone wants to see problems like food insecurity in
children or loneliness among the elderly resolved. But what about the numerous other social causes that
have been addressed in recent years? Many causes are potentially polarizing as they are in opposition to
each other: support for Black Lives Matter vs. support for local police, Pro-Life advocacy vs. support for
Planned Parenthood, promoting trans rights vs. a desire for parental authority. The list goes on. And
while businesses are entitled to choose which causes they feel are most important -either for their
bottom line, or their moral conscience- there appears to be a lack of diversity among the ones many
American corporations currently support. This has the potential to leave consumers supporting causes
they may be morally opposed to.
So, how do we know what issues the companies we do business with support? Well, the answer is
increasingly a major the theme of this blog, and that is that we must do our research. Many companies
trying to increase profits using this tactic will provide a clear purpose statement on their website to
attract potential customers- the point of their cause-marketing is to let you know exactly who and what
they support! But what if we learn that the brand we’ve been buying for years has decided to support a
cause that doesn’t align with our personal values? Well, this is where shopping with intention becomes
important. We can continue to buy where we always have, or we can decide to make a change. By either
opting out of purchases from companies at odds with us, or by actively seeking out companies who care
about the same problems we do, we have the potential to use our money for the greatest good. While it
can be difficult to find a new product or switch service to a new provider, the internet is a great place to
start the search. Word of mouth is another great way. Ask for suggestions from friends and family who
care about the issues you do, and they may be able to help. Finally, here is a word of caution while
investigating. Like “greenwashing”, a ploy mentioned in a previous post, is used by companies to
overstate the benefits of their products on the environment, a business may simply employ virtue signaling to attract unsuspecting customers, and not actually be working towards the positive impact
you might be hoping for.
Fortune and Glory does not currently have a cause-related marketing campaign per se. The purpose
behind the store (besides providing a family income of course!) is fairly obvious - to support American
Made businesses and their workers. You can read more about us here About Us ...by Fortune And Glory
- Made in USA Store (fortuneandgloryusa.com). So, maybe you are here specifically to buy American
Made products, or maybe you just love the beauty of our product offerings. Whatever your reason, we
appreciate your business and will leave you to determine your own personal charitable endeavors.